Thursday

Deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was a complex, often brutal dictator who prioritised military might and his own comfort ahead of feeding his own people.
He was also a man who seemed to radiate weirdness.
Perhaps it was his style of dress, or his keen ability to look at things without smiling.
Perhaps it was his claim to have invented the hamburger. Whatever the
cause, there is no shortage of funny, bizarre and odd facts about Kim
Jong Il floating around on the internet.
Here are some of our favourites:

He Was Born Under A Double Rainbow
According to Kim Jong Il's official biography, he was born in a
secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain during North Korea's Japanese
occupation and his arrival was prophesised by a double rainbow and
marked by the sight of a new star and a swallow in the sky.
Unfortunately the truth appears to be more mundane - according to Soviet
records, Kim was born in the Siberian village of Vyatskoye in 1941.

He Was Afraid Of Flying
Kim Jong Il was reportedly terrified of flying
and always travelled in armoured private trains - one of which he
eventually died inside. His father, Kim Il-sung, was also afraid of
flying.

He Was The World's Greatest Sportsman
According to national media, in 1994 Kim Jong Il shot a record-breaking round of golf
in which he achieved 11 holes-in-one, and a total score of 38 - by far
the greatest score in history. And it was his first try, having never
before played the game. No other media organisation reported the news,
however…

He Could Control The Weather
According to reports the former leader spread rumours that he could make it rain on demand, depending on his mood.

He Kidnapped Two Directors To Remake Godzilla
Kim Jong Il loved movies - he had a collection of more than 20,000 -
and his 1973 book 'On The Art Of Cinema' became a manual for North
Korean directors. Disappointed with their work, however, he took matters
into his own hands. No, he didn't direct a film himself, as far as we
know. Instead he kidnapped two respected South Korean directors in 1978 (Shin Sang Ok and Choi Eun Hee) and forced them to remake Godzilla. Their movie, Pulgasari,
only emerged after the couple were forced to remarry in 1983 having
spent years inside labour camps. They eventually escaped on a trip to
Vienna, where they fled to the US embassy in 1986.

He Was Suspected Of Killing His Brother At Age Five
Kim's younger brother Kim Shu-ra drowned in the family's swimming
pool in a mansion in Pyongyang when he was five. Soviet reports claimed
that the young future leader might have been responsible for the
incident.

He Drank $700k Worth Of Cognac A Year
According to a study a few years ago by Dr. Jerold Post, a former CIA
psychologist, Kim Jong Il loved Hennessey cognac - which sells for
around $630 a bottle in North Korea, or just under the average annual
income ($900). According to the study he averaged around $650,000 to $720,000 of cognac a year.

He Did Not Use Toilets - Because He Didn't Need To
According to an official biography posted on the North Korean state
web site, that has since been removed, Kim Jong-il did not defecate.

His Son - And New North Korean leader - Kim Jong Un Is Obsessed With The NBA.
Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un was apparently obsessed with professional basketball
and worshipped Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers. Friends who knew him said
that he was a "fiercely competitive player" even though he was also shy
and awkward with girls. He was not aggressively anti-American and had
photographs of himself with NBA players. No one is sure of when they
were taken.

Above: Kim Jong Il (right) and his son Kim Jong Un (left).

He Considered Himself To Be An Internet Expert
North Korean citizens were not able to freely use mobile phones or
the Internet, but Kim considered himself to be a communications expert.
"I'm an Internet expert too," he told South Korea's president in 2007.
"It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many
problems if other regions of the North are wired."

He Forced Staff To Become Drug Addicts
One of Kim's former staff members wrote a book in which he said that
the Dear Leader forced his men to take the same painkillers as him so
that he would not be the only one who became addicted after falling off a
horse. Thoughtful.

He Ate Donkeys
One of Kim's former chefs reported in 2004 that the leader developed a taste for nice French wine, lobster and donkey meat.

He Had Many, Many Titles
Among Kim Jong Il's official titles
were: Shining Star of Paektu Mountain, Guiding Sun Ray, Dear Leader,
Great Leader, Respected Leader, Brilliant Leader, Sun of Socialism, The
Great Sun of Life, Great Man Who Descended From Heaven, Invicible And
Ever-Triumphant General and Highest Incarnation of the Revolutionary
Comradely Love.Above: Pyongyang, North Korea's capital city, and the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel.

He Was A Rice Obsessive
According to a nephew of Kim's first wife, Lee Young Nam, the leader
had female staff inspect each grain of rice he ate to make sure it
adhered to standards of length, weight and colour.

He Invented Hamburgers
North Korean newspaper Minju Joson once reported that Kim Jong Il had
invented something called the "double bread with meat" and created
factories to produce them in order to feed his students and teachers.
Given North Korea's anti-American stance it wasn't politic to admit they
were in fact hamburgers.

He equipped the gadget Nokia 2030 with scratch-resistant corpus, color display and sensor keypad with lighting. It is all included in titan corpus. But the main part of the corpus is made if half-clear glass which hides a rather large display. The novelty Nokia 2030 looks very interesting and is noted for superslim design - its dimensions are 120,7x50,8x6,35 mm.

Malaysian Public Holiday are something you have to take into account when planning a holiday in Malaysia. We have one of the highest number of state and national holidays in the world ;). Here is the Malaysia Calendar for Malaysia Public Holiday 2012.

Note that for the states of Kedah, Kelantan and Trengganu, weekends means Fridays and Saturdays instead of Saturdays and Sundays for the rests of the states.

Also note that if a public holiday falls on a Sunday (Saturday for Kedah, Kelantan and Trengganu), then the following day, Monday (Sunday for the 3 Muslim states), is also a holiday.

Malaysia and Singapore school holidays usually occur simultaneously except for the Mid-Year holiday. In Singapore it is for one month, whereas in Malaysia it is only for 2 weeks. There are approximately 87 days of school term holidays and 203 school days for Malaysian schools in 2012.

Please note that the dates shown here are based on my own best estimations and available officially published calendars. Would greatly appreciate if you will report any errors by clicking the Contact button here or below. Other readers will also thank you for it.

The list of 2011’s highest-paid soccer players has been released by Forbes Magazine a couple of months ago with David Beckham topping the list.

Former Inter’s Cameroonian striker and four time African Footballer of the Year, Samuel Eto’o, currently world’s highest-paid footballer come in 10th to be the only African footballer on the list.

Regarding the fact that some of them, like David Beckham, Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho aren’t playing for top football clubs right now, but they are still in the top ten highest paid footballers list, it’s because they still have major endorsement deals. So, take a look at probably the world’s richest football players in this list with the 10 highest paid footballers of 2011.

After his deal with Adidas, the biggest in the sports world, supported by upper-class soccer apparel, he signed another deal with Samsung, in may 2011, becoming the company’s main figure for the Games. He’s also doing ads for top fashion companies and his salary is probably the highest in the MLS right now.

He enhanced his fame on Twitter, with 3 million followers, and on Facebook, 26 million fans. Names like Nike, Armani, Coca-Cola and Castrol stick with him because he’s got the looks and skills needed to promote any product. His salary at Real Madrid is also incredibly high but he scores a lot of goals for the team and I’m sure he deserves it all.

Known as the world’s best player right now, Messi is now sponsored by Konami, AudemarsPiquet, Chery, AirEuropa, PepsiCo and Adidas. And these are just the big companies who sponsor this brilliant player. His annual salary of $16 million adds to the numbers.

He joins this list thanks to his contract with EA Games, selling around 100 million units of the game FIFA 2011, for his presence on the package cover and, of course, thanks to his huge salary from Real Madrid and several ads he’s been doing lately.

He was the best players of the world two years in a row just a couple of years ago and now, after moving to his home country to play for Flamengo he still gets the appreciation he truly deserves. His deal with the Brazilian club will last until 2014 and his endorsements are amazing.

6. Thierry Henry

Net worth: $60 million (estimated)May 2010 to May 2011 Earnings: $21 millionClub: New York Red Bulls

After moving to MLS in 2010 to play for the New York Red Bulls, he has bought a suite in New York for almost $15 million, while his partnership with Gillette started during the late 2010.

7. Wayne Rooney

Net worth: $37 million or $59 million (according to 2011 Sunday Times UK Rich List)May 2010 to May 2011 Earnings: $20 millionClub: Manchester United

Given his bold and rude attitude, he went back at cursing in front of cameras at West Ham. He did this soon after ending his $600,000-a-year contract with Coca-Cola. His current sponsors are Nike and Electronic Arts, and, the deal at Old Trafford, for around $8 million a year, will last at least 5 more years.

8. Frank Lampard

Net worth: $27 million or $43 million (according to 2011 Sunday Times UK Rich List)May 2010 to May 2011 Earnings: $17 millionClub: Chelsea

His main wage is the salary on Chelsea’s field, of around $11 million, putting him on Britain’s highest paid sportsmen but he also has a couple of endorsements that make his total earnings quite a lot bigger.

His salary at the Italian club still keeps him among the first ten in the world, thanks to his reputation of one of the best footballers in the world. He always had impressive salaries at all teams he played and that’s what happens at AC Milan as well.

Africa’s most decorated footballer of all time, winning the “African Player of the Year” award four times, he has now added Puma and Ford to his list of sponsors. His salary at the Russian club rises up to $29 million a year, for a 3 year deal, making him the highest-paid player in the history of soccer. On 23rd of August he agreed for a transfer to Internazionale Milano, with a $38.9 million transfer fee.